Author: DOuG pRATt

Standing ground in Florida

I don’t know everything about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida — no one does, except for George Zimmerman — but from what I’ve read, if the “stand your ground” law applies, it seems to me that it favors Trayvon, who had every reason to feel threatened.

Follow-up: Five days later, more details are emerging about both Zimmerman and Martin, and my opinion hasn’t changed — Trayvon, and not Zimmerman, is covered by the “stand your ground” law.

TCM triumph

I was worried during the intro to tonight’s in-theater showing of Casablanca by Turner Classic Movies, because the sound was out of sync with the picture. The problem was bad enough that I went to the concession counter and told one of the staff there about it. If the movie itself had that problem, I would have told Carol we were leaving and requested a refund but, happily, the presentation was nearly perfect. The 4:3 “Academy” aspect ratio was maintained, and the sound was monaural, as it should be. The picture could have been a bit brighter, but that’s a common complaint at movie theaters these days.

P.S. The show was very well attended. I’d estimate 2/3 of the seats were taken.

The Beeb loses Claire Bolderson

I first heard Claire Bolderson in the mid-90’s, when WBUR in Boston (which gets $60/year from me) added the BBC World Service to its broadcast schedule. I also heard the World Service on shortwave radio, then later the BBC became available over the Internet. Through the years I’ve been listening to Bolderson’s distinctive voice and her intelligent reporting and observations. Yesterday, I caught Claire on the World Service saying goodbye. WBUR’s Robin Young talked with Claire about her departure from the Beeb.

[audio:http://audio.wbur.org/storage/2012/03/hereandnow_0320_claire-bolderson-bbc.mp3|titles=Claire Bolderson on ‘Here & Now’]

Upgrade!

I pulled the trigger, or bit the bullet, or whatever gun-related metaphor you prefer, on the Bluehost Pro Plan. It took longer than I thought it would to complete the transfer to a less busy host, but now that it’s done the improvement is anything but subtle. The site should be a lot faster now, and if it isn’t, let me know.